Its been a long while that I've met this crazy lovely being. Though the band is no more it makes total sense as everything still remains in ether.

Nima Lavafpour this one's for you!

**What started as a fun research with my deeply spiritual whacked out friends...became a life changing force. This video is a rough collage of what I shot in 2007.**

Nafir means sweet freedom. So does the music of this quartet from Iran exude. Comprising of:

Nafir is based in India and travels across the country spreading the power of love and spirituality through musical compositions of divine intensity and display of sheer energy. They weave a braid of harmonious notes entwining Traditional Persian Music with Jazz and Rock. Sonnets that they sing are mostly inspired or quoted by great Sufi mystics like Rumi, Hafiz, and the likes. Surprisingly and pleasantly you will find some Sanskrit mantras too.

And rightly so Nafir creates the right Sema (ambiance) for any music festival, for a pulse-racing adrenaline rush entwined with spiritual zest. Hu!!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is a big callous blunder. A far cry from Edward Scissorhands or the classy dark Sleepy Hollow, this one's not even close to Ed Wood, Willy Wonka, Big Fish or even Sweeney Todd! I would rather enjoy far out watching 'Corpse Bride' - an animated Depp rather than the aggressively promoted Mad Hatter, who hardly makes an impact in the narrative.

Whatever happened to Johnny Depp?? Jack Sparrow has rubbed furiously off his demeanor and all facial twitches resemble either a Willy Wonka or again a Sparrow. It seems he is living off his characters from films and carrying them forth to the next one. A very scary thought.

Burton and his lysergic diethylamide-induced factory has churned out a total waste of brilliance and economics behind this film. Every frame, every shot reminds you of one of the numerous 'unending falling-into-depth-less-pits', slaying of fire-gamma rays fuming dragon like creatures, futile humor lines and the list will put you to sleep even before Alice does. Infact Wonderland itself looks like an abandoned remains of a set from some old Burton movie.

The supporting cast are overplayed, underplayed, overacted, all around a Taylor Swift types who has played Alice (Mia Wasikowska = who?). Anne Hathaway's frustration of not getting better roles is apparent on screen as the perpetually stoned White Queen. Helena Bonham Carter has been overplayed to the hilt as the Red Queen and the ugliness is over the top. Other characters are as irritating as the 3D glasses.

After being terribly depressed, by the time I walked out of the theater, I overheard things from the crowd like 'Narnia should be in 3D', 'Harry Potter rocks any day', 'Mad Hatter looked like Willy Wonka's acid trip gone bad', of some that I can remember.

Trust me the animated and movie versions of Alice which we saw on our DoorDarshan sets during the summers were a tasteful lot. They were far out than Burtonscape.

It is clear that Burton seriously overestimates himself, which is not bad...but dude we are not on acid!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

I go to a salon and they do something to my hair that the 'do' becomes some what reed-like and its got a plume - a flaming red one. I take a walk on the street in the sun to show friends around. Some salon people and friends say "Hey this is a great shade...gawd fucking hair metal!

Something like this guy's ---

After a while the red turns into a shade of deep violet as it changes colours in the sun. Lo and Behold! I go back to the salon and tell them...listen the color is changing.

Get me something totally different! Get me satiated!! - I screamed.

They start cutting my hair really short this time - long at the front & short at the back, then they give me a nice shave leaving some of the mouch.

I look closely into the mirror, I see myself in sepia and fully satisfied I put my military jacket on and walk out with my right arm in the air.

Everyone else raised their hand back in salute as I walked out.

I woke up and rushed to check my new haircut. But blasted...it was still the same old.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Last night few friends were musing on some remarkable classical compositions over some beers. Well not exactly a 'wine-dine-articulate' conversation but more of Anthony Bourdain meets Sam Dunn kinds, if you know what I mean.

Then suddenly it struck upon me senses that 'Four Seasons' by Vivaldi, especially the spring part is such a lively rapture that compliments some place or some one so serenely beautiful. Though it was night and a few beers down, I could feel a warm caress of a sunny day and the tune played wonderfully in my head. So I gathered as much that I had to hum it to Silman - my dear friend and classical guitarist par excellence! The start was enough and what followed was half a room of people doing the 'TA TA TA' falsetto on Vivaldi's immemorial piece de renaissance!

Sweetness thy name is Spring; you've arrived and how!

Today I walk into office, still humming the tune, happy that it's a Friday and the weekend is at hand; I put on youtube to play Four Seasons...

LO and BEHOLD, what do I see...It's the 332nd birthday of Antonio Vivaldi.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Somalian by birth and based in Canada, K'Naan's Waving Flag had 'anthem' written all over the song. And why not, this song connects with one and all across socio-economic, cultural and continental strata like no other! Especially in our times, with some real tough monsters like terrorism, global climatic backlash, economic imbalance staring at us - we have but music and sports that bring the whole world closer.

Not being much of a rap aficionado, K'Naan's Troubadour kind of held me in much fascination specially for the Kirk Hammett (Metallica) track and a host of other stars like Mos Def, Damian Marley, Chubb Rock, Chali 2na, Adam Levine and David Bisbal.However Waving Flag stood out like a shining star amongst all of them. And the magic it spreads is infectious!

Imagine a stadium full of cheering waving flags, be it for a concert or a game - the entire universe converges into one single roar. With FiFA 2010 to be held in South Africa ~ the world's most popular sport now has a new chant - Waving Flag by K'NaaN. Now I know many who feel sick about our national anthem or even Rahman's rendition of Vande Mataram, should they be in such an arcade full of populi roaring Olé Olé Olé, I'm sure they'll taken in by complete awe and no corner to sulk!

And such good timing as yet another beautiful and earnest movie by Clint Eastwood - Invictus (Oscar nominee - Best Picture 2009) starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as the captain of the 1995 rugby team of the still apartheid hit South Africa. I was taken aback by the amazing Afro-tribal OST which in fact very finely uses an African version of this song.

Finally I leave you with a quote from the movie and the video of FIFA 2010 anthem (Mexican Version):

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Finally the epic album is out and leaked into cyber space. Varg Vikernes's murder driven facist past and through various stages of ideological shifts, we have an album Belus - 'nicknamed' (as he says) as 'The White God' or the Nordic Baldur. Varg has always been fascinated with Balder's exploits and hence this album begins with the death of Baldur plotted by a certain Luken to the resurrection of Belus at the 'konklusjon'.

Musically it gives all old Burzum fans the shivers, though his vocal range has dimmer-ed. However without getting too critical and as a die-hard Burzumuzik fan, its a great album to spend some wonderful misanthropic time with. Also as I said earlier, this post is not a review - its rather a musical mouthpiece.

This is what Varg has mentioned on Belus in various press articles:

“The album has been made according to my heart and spirit, and not to fit into any particular genre or category, or to live up to anyone’s obvious expectations. The music can best be compared to the music of some of the old Burzum albums; in particular the ground breaking Hvis Lyset tar Oss and the atmospheric brilliances of Filosofem, only the ambient parts present on these albums has been almost completely left out on Belus. There is no special reason for this, other than coincidence and the fact that I have for some time made more and better music on the guitar rather than on the keyboard.”

“Inspiration for the album has come from a variety of sources, and I find my inspiration from fairy tales and myths, from classical music, from memories of what once was, from traditional music, from fantasy, from the wind and weather, from deep forests and running water, from the sky and the sunset, from misty mountains and from yellow leaves falling from age old trees.”

“My ambition with Belus is to create something I — and hopefully others too — can listen to for years and years to come without ever growing tired of it, and at the same time to share with my audience the experience of getting to know Belus, as he might have been perceived by the ancient Europeans.”

"The combination of lyrics and music makes this a fairy tale different from most others, and should appeal to all those who like transcendental music and love to see different things from a different perspective. “If I can make you dream when listening to this album, I believe I have done a good job.”

“I am aware of the black metal association with the name Burzum, and I have no real and serious problem with that, but I personally see no reason to place Belus in any category. I think Belus musically transcends all existing categories, but if I have to choose one — and for the sake of simplicity — I will simply place it in the metal category.”

And finally what Varg says on the controversial album name -

"When I used the name "The White God" for my next album I had no idea it would stir up so much fear and irrational emotions. To me this is just a nickname of Baldur, whom the album is all about. No ambiguity intended.

The title of the album is,"Belus", the so-called Indo-European name for Baldur/the White God. I could have used any European name for this deity, but I chose this one because it is the oldest known name and because it is pan-European."

Belus releases worldwide on 8th March 2010 on Byelobog Productions.

Belus' Doed (Belus' Death)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Indigenous people making indigenous music. Abiogenesis, a Grammy nominated band from Nagaland, India. This song will take you to where it belongs. High up amongst the Seven Sisters delving into the misty hills where freedom lives.

This song speaks about Mount Saramati - the highest peak of Nagaland. The message is clear - peace, love and harmony.

Mumbai is an aging whore. And everyone around is still out to f**k her. Be it the North Indian Bhaiyya or the local Marathi, they are out to suck its resources - namely fame, power, money - bleeding dry.

The Eloi don't give a shit nor do the Morlocks. In H.G. Wells' Tme Machine, there was a power strife between the two, but in Bombay the Eloi have a problem with each other, ditto with the Morlocks fighting amongst themselves. These are mindless, futile territorial pissings that care less about the land and more about inflated egos of confused clans.

Funny thing is that the SS (not the German Schutzstaffel) and the MNS's 'son of the soil' call might land them in trouble as they undermine the huge influx of daily wage labourers that arrive not just from UP or Bihar or elsewhere but also from drought-striken calamity areas within Maharashtra like Vidarbha, Amravati, etc. Interestingly the fight is at 2 levels - super powerful and those below or at level with poverty line.

For the super rich its an ideological power struggle whereas for the have-nots it boils down to their very right for survival. And all this happening at a place where I've lived all my life.

Its very clear that the Thakerays can ever stop this influx legally, even if they go in for a wild naming spree of public venues, Marathize all literature and deploy other votebank building gimmicks. Also the North Indian brigade with their funny Bhaiyya Hindi are absolutely resolute and immovable. They claim to love Mumbai more than anyone else and over some years this brigade has just turned stronger. Now it gets only more intense as the ring gets bigger and fatter names are pulled in!

And the love affair continues with this concubine that was Bombay once....

This might seem like a dated post as it has been a few months since the film's release last year. And I never was a big Salman Khan fan. This post comes after a few dismal Sallu Bhai flicks - Veer being the latest. This is not even a review - in fact its an account of how much I've enjoyed watching Wanted on DVD and how you should also take courage, go ahead and flip the dvd in your players.

To all of those who found the promos very 'T-series yucky' - you all were right. They were freaking tacky all the way! But Wanted was a bloody delightful watch, keeping us all in splits. I was surprised at the witty ends of the movie.

Prabhudeva and the South Brigade are an innovative and funny lot. Wanted by Prabhudeva is an extremely entertaining movie. This I'm sure I don't need to reiterate. In fact Wanted is not even exactly a Pokiri remake!!

The film has brought back wonderful ways of the 70s and 80s but with highly stylized formula fights of relentless baddie bashing, sexy heroine gyrating, cheeky jokes, and the man himself does more than justify his screen presence. If all of us shrugged at Sallu's last dozen films that flopped, there is always one film that more than saves him. Mind you - Wanted is not just for the rickshaw audience. It actually exemplifies classic Bollywood hit film-making.

I also love the way Salman can state expressions derived from his own life into dialogues and what prowess. This guy has got balls larger than life! In fact at a point - I felt like watching the Hindi counterpart of Superstar Rajnikant!

If you are interested in others in the movie then - Ayesha Takia is cat like sexy and makes a hot combo with Salman. Mahesh Manjrekar is best in his evil role. But watch out for Southie acting great Prakash Raj in the role of Gani Bhai, I caught him in some South Indian films and this guy is cult!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Getting your hook off social and public view gives me immense pleasure.

Yesterday I deleted my last existing social networking account. Trust me, the feeling is a mix of a certain lightheadedness in a good way and freedom from a certain social responsibility to represent. The very fact that I'm writing again proves how much of useful time abounds and remains untapped.

Social networking is based on being judgmental. And I'm not saying this out of any grief or hatred against anyone - I've had my very fair share of glamorous-pompous facebooking across spheres of influences. And why was it judgmental all the way - let me exemplify...

Character 1

Friends - 1546

Activity - Hyper

Status update - bright sunny happy.

Wants to be perceived as - Most happening, love cared, watched, charm of all parties.

Actually is - confused, lost, unwanted.

Character 2

Activity - Zero

Status Update - been the same since a couple of years

Wants to be perceived as - I don't really care

Actually is - Extremely busy in mundane affairs.

Character 3

Activity - Hyper

Status Update - Changes every moment depending on mood

Wants to be perceived as - A great social networker in the history of social networking.

Actually is - A great social networker with a bad social life.

Character 4

Activity - dormant

Status Update - last party attended when logged in.

Wants to be perceived as - a party animal.

Actually is - a party animal.

Character 5

Activity - busy

Status Update - links/ urls

Wants to be perceived as - information provider.

Actually is - in search of more info and similar links/ urls.

There might be more categories to which I didn't get time to characterize or there might be more characters to which I didn't get time to categorize.

So till the next time that I come forth with some more useless information that you would never require, please stare at the image below for a while carefully...he actually moves if you watch carefully.